Observing a Classroom: Gender under the Telescope



Envision being in a classroom with 18 girls and 17 boys. 35 students in all. This isn’t the 1920s, yet girls are still being discriminated.


Boy “Can you help me with my essay?’

Teacher “Sure. Your lede needs more spice to it. It also needs to have more statistical evidence, stay on topic and really focus on the reasoning, otherwise it is perfect.”

Boy “Great, thanks.”


Girl “Excuse me, can I please have some help on my paper?”

Teacher “It’s too weak.”


Doesn’t sound real, does it? Only your grandparents or great-grandparents remember being singled-out because of their gender. Women were allowed to vote on June 4, 1919. Finally the backbone of society will get a whisper in the classroom. But that’s it. Not a loud shout into the never-ending battle that will not get better with teachers who prefer boys to girls. We need to have educators who will address the issue at hand. Studies show that boys get better feedback, get called on more, and get in less trouble than girls. Discrimination doesn’t end in the classroom, when you interview for your first job, your chances of getting a job in Science, Technology Engineering or Math is lower if you are a female.


May 5-9, 2014, I had the joy of observing an eighth grade language arts classroom. Although there were not a lot of class dialogue, there was a big feedback gap between boys and girls. The hand raising was not a part of my experiment, but the behavior and the comments that were given back after a essay was due was one of the biggest inequalities I found there was. The example written above actually happened to me, and to multiple girls in my class. I mean, not to bash my teacher or anything, but I was trying to make a point.



In classrooms all around the US girls are getting more involved in Social and Marketing jobs versus jobs majoring in Math or Science. Personally I would never want a career in science because no one that I know is an actual scientist, that is a women. In science class all you hear about is Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Galileo. The only mention of a woman scientist very briefly is Marie Curie. She died 80 years ago. Not very recent, is it? “Women are both underappreciated and under-represented in engineering and other technical fields. Only 18% of college students graduating with computer science degrees in 2008 were women” . Female astronauts are still rare today and no one is doing anything about it. It all starts in elementary school. When they are learning about astronauts and scientists, talk to them about female chemists and females who work with rocket ships. Not about male scientists that “changed the world” or “made history by inventing the telescope.” No girl wants to hear about only males who have had careers in science and are world-class engineers.

Not only are the classes of math and science directed towards men, studies show that the classroom itself, whether it is teaching math, or music, is cheating girls of their right to pass a any class. “Boys are called on more often than girls...Boys are given more and different kind of feedback than girls...Boys are allowed more leniency for mild classroom behavior” (SS failing at Fairness). This doesn’t sound right to most people. Some of our world’s leading entrepreneurs are females. Yes, but only some. “? of all women (or men) would have to change college majors for there to be no gender segregation” (CSI). It shouldn’t matter what gender is “supposed” to go with which job. Society has brainwashed the people of the World into believing that if you are a man than you are more superior. So, tell me what you think. If you are a teacher reading this, then have you seen this in your classroom or in your school? And if you are a student, have you experienced this in your classes? Have you ever seen it happen? Don’t let this world-wide problem become bigger. Don’t be pushed around by teachers who think that boys have better ideas and are better students. I sure don’t. It is time for women to take charge and to show this country what we are made of.